A rousing final chapter

As the final installment of a film trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand brings the series to a satisfying conclusion. The beauty of the film has always been in seeing the mutants we’ve grown up with, or have seen our kids be avidly drawn to, come to life on screen. With such a vast reservoir of mutants to choose from, given the life of the comic books, the more cogent directorial consideration was how to keep things flowing, while introducing a reasonable number of new mutants with each film.

Brett Ratner (known for his directorial chores on the Rush Hour series) ably sticks to the tradition of the first two films, while providing us with enough new visual stimuli to keep this film memorable. My three boys unanimously agreed this was the best of the three in terms of keeping them riveted throughout the film. Drama and superpowers are the main ingredients of any X-Men film. The drama will naturally emanate from the fact that mutants are so different, and will always be feared by ordinary humans. Philosophical posturing of whether these powers are a blessing or a curse will always wreak havoc on the psyches of these mutants.

When your own parents are awed and scared by what you possess, you know you’re in for a world of angst, psychological trauma and confusion. Ratner effectively balances the psycho-babble with action sequences. One new mutant introduced in this film is Archangel. We first see him as a boy locking himself in the restroom and violently trying to scrape off the feathers sprouting on his shoulder-blades.

When we next see him in a business suit, with wings effectively strapped to hide his mutant status, we’re instantly aware how fragile his sense of self-worth is. Driving plotline of this installment is the discovery of a mutant antibody. With this special serum, all mutants can effectively become homo-sapiens, normal and powerless. Naturally, the X-Men and the Brotherhood find this insulting, since it implies that being mutant is wrong or tantamount to being "sick."

How each side reacts is the crux of the action and conflict that ensues. While Magneto and the Brotherhood seek to destroy the laboratories that have come up with the "solution" and all who stand in their way, the X-Men still follow the advice and stand of Professor Xavier and hope for peaceful co-existence. Special effects are topnotch, with a "flying" Golden Gate playing a prime role. The Computer Generated Images are practically seamless, with none of the hokey, so-fake effects we see in other films of this genre. There’s Juggernaut (the wonderful Vinnie Jones and his Limey accent), the aforementioned Archangel, Callisto (similar to Flash), and a Porcupine-type character to add to the cast of mutants captured on film. In previous films, the moral hinges on Patrick Stewart as Xavier and Ian McKellen as Magneto. They are in fine form for this film, and as in The Da Vinci Code, McKellen just shines in every scene he’s in.

This is what keeps the X-Men series different. The psychological, internal conflicts are as crucial as the action scenes. When Halle Berry as Storm talks about prejudice and tolerance, one can’t help noting that she could be talking about people of Afro-American persuasion and not mutants. It’s this reality which keeps the movie content- grounded, not mere fantasy. It may be sheer comic-book escapism, but the film delivers much more than that.